School safety is his aim

More than 24 years after suffering bullet and shrapnel wounds during the shootings at Cleveland Elementary School, Rob Young is taking a stand on gun control.

Roger Phillips

More than 24 years after suffering bullet and shrapnel wounds during the shootings at Cleveland Elementary School, Rob Young is taking a stand on gun control.

But as Young freely acknowledges, it's not the stand you might expect.

Young says if they are properly trained, school principals and teachers should be allowed to carry loaded firearms on their campuses. He says it would make schools safer in an emergency.

"Why not have someone there with a gun who can act before the police get there?" Young said Monday. "If it saves one child, it's worth it."

Young, 30, was a 6-year-old first-grader on Jan. 17, 1989, when drifter Patrick Purdy walked onto the Cleveland Elementary playground and started firing. Five children were killed that day, and 31 people were wounded. Young was shot in the right foot and was hit in the chest by shrapnel.

His opinion about gun regulation is long-held. But after the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults, Young decided to become an activist.

Young joined the Gun Owners of America, an organization backing legislation introduced in January by Texas Republican Congressman Steve Stockman that would repeal "gun-free zones" on school campuses.

During a trip funded by the Gun Owners of America, Young spent Monday in Washington, D.C., speaking about the issue with members of the United States House of Representatives, as well as with congressional staffers. He is scheduled to attend more meetings today before returning to Stockton.

"He felt he needed to do something on our side of the issue," said Tim Macy, vice chairman of the gun rights group. "Taking guns away from honest citizens is feel-good legislation that's not going to do anything to solve the problem."

Young was reached by phone Monday after meeting with a half-dozen congressmen and speaking at an event hosted by Stockman, who recently received national notice for inviting rocker Ted Nugent to Obama's State of the Union address.

He said his opinions are based not only on what he witnessed on the Cleveland playground but on nine years as a police officer.

"I deal with gang members all the time," Young said. "I've arrested people in the past who have been arrested more than once for unlawfully carrying firearms. A lot are convicted felons, they're carrying guns that were stolen or that have the serial numbers scraped off. These are criminals. They're not supposed to be carrying guns, anyway."

Young's first law enforcement job was as an officer on the Stockton Unified police force. He works today for a force in the Bay Area.

"Passing more laws for gun control is only going to hurt good people," said Young, who spent close to 10 hours Monday on Capitol Hill. "(Criminals) are going to choose whatever weapons they want. More gun laws hurt law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves adequately.

"You're asking Americans to play on an uneven playing field. No police officer can be everywhere at once. People need the ability to be able to protect themselves adequately."

Young said he was deeply affected by the similarity between the Sandy Hook shootings and the Cleveland tragedy. Unlike the many school shootings carried out by students against their own classmates and teachers, the Sandy Hook and Cleveland shootings were committed by strangers to the schools.

Being a parent also has colored his views, Young said. He and his wife have two children, a 7-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl.

"A whole new set of emotions goes through your head being a father," Young said. "Being a dad, I couldn't imagine sending my kids to school and having that happen."